


Bits of Progress

by Basilintime



Category: Pacific Rim (Movies)
Genre: Crushes, Fluff, M/M, Realization
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-16
Updated: 2018-11-16
Packaged: 2019-08-24 07:18:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16635407
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Basilintime/pseuds/Basilintime
Summary: Newton passes sometime while waiting for instrumentation to do their things by watching Hermann across the lab. When Hermann notices he tries to cover it up and ends up more confused than ever.Hermann has noticed that Newton watches him sometimes. He doesn't feel he has enough data points to come to a firm conclusion on what this means. He discovered that a single moment of boldness can sometimes cascade into sudden discoveries.





	Bits of Progress

**Author's Note:**

> This is just shameless fluff occurring at some undetermined point during the war.

          Newton had his feet up on his desk, headphones on and drumming away with his hands on his knees as he waited. The centrifuge was spinning, nothing could be done until it finished, and Hermann was over scribbling away at his chalkboards. Newton was maybe watching him. Just a little. Hermann got a look on his face when he was wrapped up in his equations and predictions. Concentrated, focused and completely open rather than guarded. Newton could usually tell how things were going with just a glance which wasn't always the case when Hermann realized he was being watched. 

          Newton liked unguarded work Hermann. Well, Newton honestly like all versions of Hermann he had encountered. Even the arguing 'your theories are preposterous' Hermann who pushed Newton to reevaluate and fill in the holes so that he had no argument for that. It was how they worked. They challenged each other because no one else could or really would. They pushed each other to perfect the hypothesis so that they could either prove they were correct or dismiss them in frustration when they ended up falling apart. 

          Hermann smiled a little, which meant things were going well, and Newton couldn't help the smile that came to his lips almost like an impulse at the sight. It wasn't one of those blinding smiles that had, quite honestly, distracted him so much one day he'd tripped over his own feet in the cafeteria when he caught sight of it across the room. It was a gentle smile, lips closed and pursed together, though Hermann's eyes crinkled a bit. 

          The sound of Hermann clearing his throat had Newton suddenly realizing that he shouldn't have been able to see quite so much detail unless...well, unless Hermann was looking at him. Which he was. Newton felt the heat flare up in his cheeks as he tried to brush off the fact that he was staring now that Hermann was looking right back at him. 

          "Oh, ah, hey...Hermms. Must have spaced out. Everything good? Cool? Copacetic?" Newton gave a nervous laugh as he glanced at his centrifuge. It had definitely stopped spinning. How long ago had that happened? He reached and hit pause on his music only for the sound of the rest of the world to come rushing back. 

          "-if you didn't have your music on so loud you would have realized your centrifuge has been beeping for several minutes now." Hermann's voice cut in and the aforementioned beep of the centrifuge came into fuzzy focus through the headphones. He snatched them off roughly as they knocked his glasses slightly off kilter, ready to be berated by Hermann for his distraction, as he pushed the button to pop the lid open on the instrument. He heard the sound of Hermann's footsteps approaching his side of the lab and he spun around in the chair to face him with hands up to try and hold back the barrage of criticism. 

          He, instead, almost knocked knees with Hermann (which was definitely a bad thing) and panicked to reach forward to steady him. They froze like that for a moment; Newton's hands on Hermann's waist, face definitely at crotch level and the two of them rather close. Another nervous laugh escaped Newton's mouth as he pulled back though there was a small part of him that had thought of just slipping his arms around Hermann's waist. Of resting his head against his stomach and holding him close. Newton's face felt like it was on fire now and it was hard to meet Hermann's eyes. 

          "Sorry, dude, didn't realize you had gotten so close. I'll, uh, I'm going to take care of the sample now. Centrifuge won't beep anymore." Newton reached clumsily and blindly for the box of gloves that were somewhere off to his right. Hermann hadn't backed off like Newton had expected him to; hadn't put distance between them which meant they were still close. 

          "And the staring?" Newton felt a bit of irritation but it was at himself really. He couldn't be mad at Hermann for noticing that he'd been staring after all. Newton couldn't help the nerves and embarrassment that came with it being called out like this though. "Newton." Hermann's voice sounded gentle rather than that sharp snap of indignation that Newton had expected. He peaked up at Hermann as he pulled one of the hot pink gloves he'd special ordered on his hand. 

          "Yeah, uh, sorry. Like I said I must have spaced?" Newton said it hopefully because he wasn't sure Hermann was going to buy it. The look on Hermann's face said he was uncomfortable and Newton cursed himself in the back of his mind. The last thing he wanted was to make Hermann actually feel uncomfortable sharing the space with him. He was surprised Hermann hadn't requested they pack up his chalkboards and let him work someone else yet as it was. He complained all the time about Newton's samples and how unsanitary it all was. 

          "I see..." A small crease of a frown appeared between Hermann's brows and he stood there for a second longer before he reached forward. Newton held his breath as Hermann straightened his glasses that he had knocked askew. He about felt his heart leap out of his chest when Hermann's fingers then moved to skim through the hair above his right ear before he finally pulled away. Hermann looked momentarily flustered as Newton stared up at him. Newton, for his part, felt like he was going to vibrate his way out of orbit or explode or maybe just both. "Perhaps leave your music at a quieter level. Spare you hearing and make it easier for you to realize your work needs your attention. In case you 'space out' again." 

          "Okay...uh huh, yeah. Hundred percent." Newton mumbled the words as Hermann finally turned away from him. Newton pulled his second glove on watching him walk back up to his chalkboard with a confused flutter in his chest. He accidentally snapped the glove against his wrist and gave a soft curse that finally pulled him out of his daze. 

          He set about separating the layers of his samples; neutralize kaiju blood lost a lot of its more dangerous properties but it still allowed him to run genetic analysis. He couldn't quite shake the feeling of Hermann's fingers running through his hair or the closeness of him as he'd stood there. He eventually put his headphones back in, volume turn down low, low enough that he could still hear the hint of chalk against those boards. 

 

          It wasn't the first time he had caught Newton staring at him. It actually happened rather frequently though he'd tend to look away the moment Hermann noticed. This time he'd seemed too wrapped up in whatever was going through that head of his to realize he'd been caught. Hermann hadn't been certain the reasons for the staring. He honestly had theories though a portion of them had seemed unlikely to him. They seemed less unlikely now. 

          Hermann had known that Newton and him had a close friendship despite the amount of arguing they tended to fall into. It had long been silently agreed upon that some of those misunderstandings from their first meeting were just that. Misunderstandings. However, Hermann had believed that his feelings for Newton beyond that friendship were rather one-sided. Part of him still believed this but in those moments before he'd called Newton's attention to his own staring Hermann felt he’d seen something unexpected. 

          Newton had been looking at him with an expression he'd not seen before. It had bordered along the edges of some of his other fonder expressions; his awe at new and particularly well-maintained samples, the look he got when he played his guitar quiet and peacefully in the later evenings or even the look he sometimes gave an unexpected batch of cookies sent from his father and uncle. Somehow this expression had blended all three of those and Hermann had found himself immensely flustered that it was aimed at him. 

          It had made him smile unexpectedly and Newton had mirrored the smile before Hermann had gently cleared his throat and Newton had realized that he was watching him back. In those moment Hermann had panicked some himself, afraid that his own expression had betrayed him. That he had been saying some of those same things he'd seen in Newton's expression. He had reprimanded him for his music; brought his focus on the beeping centrifuge that had been the first thing to pull his attention away from the chalkboards. It had been a habitual reaction; a deflection to explain getting caught but Hermann hadn't been the one to get caught this time. 

          And a small, brave part of him rose then as he'd moved over to Newton's side of the lab. He wasn't certain what he was going to do, wasn't sure if he'd had any intent at all other than to be a little closer to him. Newton almost taking him out with the chair, warm hands on his waist as he'd steadied them both, had derailed whatever was driving Hermann forward. More conscious of what he was doing then he'd settled for a light touch; straightened the ridiculous glasses and brushed his fingers through Newton's hair momentarily. 

          Hermann had muttered something about Newton keeping his music quieter; tried to wave it away as his mind had already been backtracking. It worked furiously on convincing him he hadn't seen what he thought he had. Hermann retreated back to his side of the lab; fingertips tingling and nerves on edge as he pursed his lips. He returned to his work, his equations and data that made sense. His personal experiments were done for the day and he needed to refocus back on the matter at hand. 

          Things seemed to return to a more normal state of being. At least for a time as Newton started to hum along with his music and Hermann fell into the flow of his work once more; comforted by the sound of him working on the other side of the room. Part of him wondered how he would manage once the war was over, if they won, of course. How would he manage to work without those familiar sounds that somehow were less distraction and more a comfort? When they inevitably moved on to whatever they each chose to do once the dust was settled. 

          Hermann paused to glance at the time when he heard Newton's humming stop. The familiar snap of gloves being pulled off and the slop of them landing in the biological waste container. Several hours had passed in that strange space where time seemed to disappear into the work itself. It would be close to time for dinner. He blinked as he heard Newton's footsteps tentatively making their way across the yellow line to his side of the lab. 

          "Hey, so, uh, do you want to head up for dinner with me? Or; were you planning on just doing some cup of soup down here?" Newton stumbled over his words a little. They typically ate together unless one of them felt pressed to stay in the lab and eat some of their stock of dried noodles and sodium-filled flavor packets. There seemed to be a little more behind the question than normal, however, and Newton gave him a nervous smile. 

          Hermann swallowed down some of that self-doubt and flutter of nerves that frequently tried to tell him he was seeing more than was truly there. Did his best to push it away for a moment so he could give Newton a smile in return. 

          "I'd be happy to join you." Newton's expression softened a little; . Hermann motioned for him to lead the way, hand held out in front of them and Newton stared at it for a moment before just taking it in his. Their fingers intertwined and Hermann thought for certain that his heart was going to beat out of his chest. Newton was doing that thing again where it seemed hard for him to meet Hermann's eyes but he didn't let go as he started to lead the way. Hermann fell in step beside him, mind working overtime to try and excuse this behavior as well, but it seemed to be finding it difficult to land on any other conclusions. 

          "So, ah, did you make any progress today?" Newton still wasn't really looking at him and his cheeks had gone red like earlier. Hermann's mind seemed to suddenly land on the fact that there was really no other explanation for this behavior than Newton liking him. Which, in the end, meant they liked each other. Without full realizing his intent Hermann pulled Newton to a stop just inside the laboratory doors before their trajectory took them out into the halls where others would clearly see. 

          Newton frowned in confusion as he turned to look back at Hermann who took the opportunity to press their lips together. Newton's nose awkwardly hit his, glasses got knocked askew and Newton almost stumbled fully into him as Hermann perhaps put more force than intended into pulling Newton closer. In the end, it was an utter disaster that still made it entirely obvious what Hermann's intentions had been. 

          Newton was clinging to his sweater vest for stability and looking up at him agape. Hermann had a death grip on his cane with one hand and his other was still gripping Newton's hand awkwardly between them. He could feel the heat creeping up along his neck and into his ears as he blushed. It started as a soft chuckle from Newton that bloomed into laughter as he stopped clinging to Hermann and righted himself. Part of Hermann felt a sense of dread thinking Newton was pulling away; that he had  _somehow_  misunderstood the situation despite everything as Newton's hand slipped out of his grasp. 

          But then Newton's lips were pressing against his, he felt hands tangle in his hair as Newton's laughter died off Hermann's eyes fluttered closed. It was tentative at first but the moment Newton parted his lips Hermann made a quiet noise of simple joy. He wasn't entirely conscious of the fact that he'd dropped his cane but he did as he wrapped his arms around Newton, pulling them against each other, as his tongue teased at Newton's lips before moving to fully taste him. They kissed with the passion of two people realizing just how in love with each other they were. 

          The sound of someone walking past the doors to the K-science labs out in the hall had them pulling apart suddenly. They both stood frozen for a second as they listened for the person to pass; hoped it wasn't someone actively looking for them. The footsteps continued on their way without pausing and Newton dissolved into laughter against him once more; face buried against Hermann's neck where his breath tickled along his skin. Hermann wasn't able to keep his own laughter from bubbling out either as they leaned against the wall beside the doors with a sort of exhilarated relief. 

          "Yes, by the way." Hermann answered once he felt he could speak once more and Newton gave him a quizzical look.  

          "Yes...what?" 

          "Yes, I do believe I've made a good deal of progress today." Newton blushed as Hermann straightened his glasses, let his fingers toy with his hair without hesitation this time before pulling him into another kiss. There were still details to be worked out but for now he felt they could simply enjoy their mutual discoveries.

 


End file.
